Value of the Employee voice

 Value of the Employee voice

The meaning of employee voice

"Employee voice is the term increasingly used to cover a whole variety of processes and structures which enable and empower employees, directly and indirectly, to contribute to decision making in the firm." (Purcell, (2003), 

The elements of employee voice

According to Williams & Adam-Smith, (2006) employee voice can be categorized into two.

·         ‘Participation’ - Preparations that give workers some impact over organizational and work environment choices.

·          ‘Involvement’ – Applies to management initiatives which are designed to further the flow of communication at work as a means of enhancing the organizational commitment of employees.

 Elements of employee voice (Williams & Adam-Smith, 2006)

Categorization of employee voice

Marchington et al., (2001) proposed that the components of employee voice could be categorized as representative participation and upward problem solving.

Figure 2 Categorization of employee voice (Marchington et al., 2001)

Expression of employee voice

To which extend an employee has a voice will vary significantly. Below figure explains the steps in the degree to which employees have voice as defined by Boxall & Purcell, (2003).

Figure 3 Expression of employee voice (Boxall & Purcell, 2003)

There are so many ways to gather and organize employee voice including: employee surveys, email feedback, unions and works councils.

The main obstructions to effective employee voice are,

• Lack of employee enthusiasm
• Absence of essential skills to implement and manage employee voice programmes
• Problems concerning line managers – as example middle managers might act as blockers by choice or ignorance. 

To make employee voice effective, it requires good leadership skills, upper management support and choosing the correct mechanisms for involvement and participation.

 Importance of Employee voice for sustainable success

• Protects against the wide-ranging impact of negative emotions (Perlow & Williams, 2003)
• Improves organisational agility (Collins, 2001) 
• Helps to prevent knowledge & skill loss and to make better decisions (Spencer, 1986)
• High degree of retention
• Improves employer branding, customer acquisition & job design

Conclusion

The decision to engage in voice or remain silent can have significant implications for organizations and the people within them. For organizations, performance may suffer if employees do not share suggestions and concerns, and they may miss opportunities to correct problems and take advantage of new ideas. Organization leaders, therefore, need to foster conditions that motivate and enable voice.

References

Boxall, P F & Purcell, J (2003) Strategy and Human Resource Management, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

Collins, J. (2001), Good to Great, New York, Harper Collins.

Marchington, M, Wilkinson, A, Ackers, P and Dundon, A (2001) Management Choice and Employee Voice, London, CIPD.

Morrison, Elizabeth. (2014). Employee Voice and Silence. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior. 1. 173-197. 10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091328.

Spencer, D. G. (1986). Employee Voice and Employee Retention. Academy of Management Journal, 29(3), 488–502. doi:10.5465/256220.

The Australian Financial Review, (2020) Smart companies look to harness employee voice. [online] Available from https://www.afr.com/companies/smart-companies-look-to-harness-employee-voice-20180926-h15vql [Accessed: 30 April 2021].